My first small error was thinking, I'm not going in the water today so there are no "rules to follow."
My second error was thinking "Signs are for Other People to read ..."
And my third error ... "Most rules don't apply to me anyway."
Once the park ranger showed me how I was on The Deadliest Beach in California ...
It became obvious.
And that evening, alone by the campfire having a beer, I started thinking ...
Right now, all my clients are walking on their own "deadliest beach" ...
They are NOT reading the signs carefully ...
They do NOT believe "the rules apply to me."
Could this be YOU in some small way?
If you're looking for REVENUE, calling customers, prospecting and giving pitches for money ...
The Rules Do Apply To You.
But which rules exactly?
Here's the basic Rules of Customer Money today. When you get the chance to pitch a client for business or money
RULE 1: Stop making "Discovery calls" where you ask the prospect a dozen or a hundred manipulative questions.
This is annoying, and people are stressed out and too tired of this discovery-call-game, where you ask all kinds of weak "rapport" and "information gathering" questions that add no value to their day.
RULE 2: Know a lot about their business before you have the call. Really do some deep research.
If you say to me, "Hey Oren, tell me a little about yourself and the company, and where you want to be in 24 months" it's a huge red flag: you don't understand what I really do. I'll get off that call in 30 seconds as politely as I can, or impolitely as I can, I don't give a *#$&&. Why should I? You didn't.
RULE 3. Go Fast and quickly get to the details of what problem you can solve and why solve it now.
RULE 4: Add value ...
People ... buyers ... investors ... they come to calls to hear about novel solutions to their most difficult problems, and to gain helpful insights from you. People do not want to be on calls about costly ways to "maybe" solve some of their minor problems.
RULE 5: Don't be Needy
Neediness kills deals. If you need more on this, read Pitch Anything, chapter 4.
Rule 6: CONTROL THE PROCESS
... as you can see, rules 1-5 are easy to follow.
But rule 6 is a paradox.
Because .... people don't want to be controlled ... at all ... in any way.
And today, people are already stressed out by Covid.
Any kind of "control" tactic will trigger "avoidance."
Buyers and investors will pull-back from even a minor control tactic, even one as innocent as saying .. "So, do we have a deal?"
"But Oren," you might ask, "it's an impossible situation."
How do I get "CONTROL" if buyers pull-away form any kind of control?
The answer is simple.
You have to Get Control at one time ...
... and then Use Control at a DIFFERENT TIME.
Then, your control is invisible.
Now you can see why most people misunderstand the concept of "control."
They think you Get Control and Use Control in the same moment. They believe getting control is a singe action that you "do".
That's incorrect.
In fact, you can have control and never use it.
But when a buyer can see and feel your attempts to take things over, they can feel manipulated.
This is why the true experts in making a pitch or presentation will Get Control of the Process at the beginning of the presentation ... but only use it 30 minutes or an hour later ...at the end.
So what are the "tactics" of getting control, and how is all this done in practice?
That's the topic of my presentation tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment